


Ilinx

by vophius



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Criminal Minds Setting, Alternative Universe - FBI, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-03-06 15:17:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13414005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vophius/pseuds/vophius
Summary: Neil wakes up bound and gagged in the back of someone’s white van. Talk about stereotypical much. A week later he's in an FBI authorized interrogation room with the grumpiest looking man he's ever seen staring at him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The Criminal Minds AU that you never wanted.

Transcript of Tape #287 

Victim: Neil Josten 10/16/2011

0:00:00

Investigator Hernandez: This is Investigator Hernandez, located in Millport, Ohio, interviewing Neil Josten, age 24, birthday March 31st. Is this all correct to the best of your knowledge Mr. Josten? 

Neil Josten: Yes. 

IH: Where were you on the night of October 11th, 2011 when you were abducted by Jerome Williams. 

NJ: I was on the corner of Orchard Drive and Hamilton, just past Dan’s Deli. 

IH: And what were you doing there?

NJ: I was three miles into my daily run. 

IH: Can anyone confirm this?

NJ: My landlady, and the waitress from the deli. I come in for water when I pass it. 

IH: And what happened when you were abducted. Tell as detailed of a description as possible. Any information can be useful, even if you may think it’s useless.

NJ: I was crossing Hamilton when a large man shoved a bag over my head and knocked me out. When I came to, I was in the trunk of the van, with my hands and feet zip tied together, and the bag still on. About thirty or so minutes after I woke up the man, Jerome I guess, stopped the van and opened the trunk. I was led into some underground cellar or basement. Jerome then pulled off the bag, and started cussing to himself. It seemed like he either thought I was someone else, or thought I was younger or female or something. 

[sounds of shifting clothing] 

He kept me there for approximately three more days, where he gave me a prepackaged sandwich and a bottle of water for each meal. After those three days he put the bag back over my head, zip tied me again and put me back in the van, where he drove it for around two hours before stopping and getting out. I managed to snap the zip ties. A while after that, maybe half a day, a police officer opened the trunk and let me out. 

IH: Can you describe the cellar that you were held in more extensively?

NJ: Oh, yeah, sorry. I couldn’t really see it that well ‘cause he usually left the bag on me, and when I would eat the lights would always be off. The ground was unfinished and really rough. Like stone or concrete. There were seven steps from the outside to the cellar. Jerome had to stoop to walk around. 

IH: Speaking of Jerome, did you ever get the opportunity to see his face?

NJ: Once, when he was pulling off the bag for the first time. He was white, and middle aged. Kind of plain looking. His hair was dark, and his eyes were brown. 

[victim appears to have a coughing fit] 

IH: I think that’ll be all for now. I’ll send in a nurse later for your cough if it gets worse. The FBI will be here soon to see if you know anything else that you can’t remember. 

00:03:21


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all. It's me. Sorry for the shortness. I'm not used to writing things longer than they need to be, and this is kind of my first attempt at creative writing. If anyone spots any mistakes, or would like to help beta future chapters, please comment! Thanks for all of the super sweet comments on the first chapter too!

In the darkness of Wymack's office, Dan Wild lifts her head up from her hands. Exasperation and stress written in every line of her face. The blinking digital clock shows the time. 1:38. Too late for any sensible person to still be working. And yet, here she was, discussing the only issue the team had had with the case. Everything else pointed to the picture perfect definition of a serial rapist with a tendency towards young boys. So why didn’t the last victim make sense?

“You’re telling me the cops found this guy locked in the trunk of the suspect’s car with his bindings undone, and made no attempt to run towards the cop when he was released?” 

“I know Dan, it’s a little suspicious-” 

“A little? Coach, he was trapped in the dark trunk on a white van after being kidnapped by a possible murderer, and he doesn’t panic at all? I know of maybe one person who wouldn’t do that, and Andrew would be laughing the whole time.” 

Dan and Wymack share a look over the desk. Both have had this exact conversation only a year or so back, when Kevin Day had just joined their team. 

“Fine. Once we get to Millport I’ll send Andrew in to interrogate him. See if he knows anything that he might be leaving out.” At this, Dan sits back, satisfied, while Wymack stands with a groan and swings open the door, already dreading the conversation with the rest of the team.

* * *

Fuck. Neil knew that this town had been a bad idea. He hadn’t left when he was supposed to, had gotten attached to the locals, and now he was in the middle of a fucking serial rapist case. 

And now Hernandez had informed him that the BAU unit of the FBI - the unit where Kevin Day was now special agent- was set to arrive any moment. There was only one option he could take if he didn’t want his disguise to be blown, and that was to escape while he still could. 

Neil went to work quickly on the one handcuffed chained to the table. The cuffs were easy, and one of his hands was already free. Any criminal with half a brain could pick it with two safety pins. It was taking too long though. Andrew Minyard was going to swing that hospital white door in, ready to rip him to shreds, and his goddamn cuffs were still - there. Finally. He rushed to the window on the other side of the room, jimmying it open and jumping out. 

Neil sprinted to the road outside as fast as he could, not daring to look anywhere but straight ahead. The police man sitting outside on his break had already spotted him, and was talking into his walkie talkie urgently while jogging towards him. Absentmindedly, he noticed that there was another car in the lot, a large black sedan, but it wouldn’t matter anyway. He was only a couple feet to the sidewalk. A few steps, and he could disappear again. Another city another - BANG. The sound of a gun firing too close for comfort made him instinctively duck down. He rolled forward quickly, too quickly and was dazed. If his mom was with him, he would’ve been punished for it. And rightly so. As soon as he stepped forward, his left knee was kicked in, and he was pistol-whipped, his head cracking to the side with an audible sound. The blackness started to cloud the edges of vision, moving inward until he faded into it. 

When he came to, he was back in the same interrogation room, his hands cuffed to the table in front of him, and Andrew Minyard staring straight at him. Neil would recognize his face anywhere. The reclusive man that had somehow gotten Kevin Day, second in command in the FBI, to step down to a rare but low position in the dregs of Columbia, South Carolina. 

“So rabbit. What’s your real name?”

Neil stayed silent. His mother had taught him enough to know that the police had nothing on him. 

“C’mon rabbit. It’s all fun and games here. You can tell me. Now what’s your name.” At the end of his sentence, Andrew had lost the maniac smile that had been stretched across his face since he’d entered the room. To Neil, it felt like the temperature in the room had dropped twenty degrees. 

“Why’d you know to roll huh rabbit. You know, that kind of reflex is special. Not many people without formal training would know to do that. How about you tell me where you learned to do that before I have to make you.” The smile was back again. Neil felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. His instincts were telling him to run, run, run, and he could almost hear his mother’s voice screaming at him to fight. He hadn’t even realized Andrew was still talking, too focused on panicking. 

“Maybe daddy issues made you like that. Did he swing a gun around a lot? Did he point it straight at you, tell you if he would shoot you if you talked back to him one more time? Or maybe it was mommy.”

Neil was straining at his handcuffs before Andrew had even ended his last sentence. 

“Don’t you dare talk about my mother you son of a bitch. You don’t know anything about me or my ‘issues’.” 

At this Andrew only began to cackle. And then shake. When the shaking finally subsided, his shoulders had hunched inward, his face worn out and pale. The door swung open, and a large middle aged man with tribal tattoos spreading across his arms clomped in. Neil flinched away before he could school his fear into something less noticeable. 

He was only spared a glance before the large man turned back towards Andrew. Neil vaguely remembered him from somewhere. An article maybe. One of the many political ones posted in the wake of Kevin's transfer.  
“Minyard. You’re coming out whether you think you’re done with the victim or not. Neil, you can leave now if you want. But call the number on the card if you have anything you think we might need to hear.” 

The man, Woodruff, Wilkinson, Wymack maybe, paused from dragging Andrew out of the door to drop a plain white business card with only one string of numbers on it on the table. Neil only stared at it until the door swung back shut with a clang.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all.. sorry for any messed up tenses and such. The terms are also probably inaccurate, but I tried as hard as possible!

When Neil wakes up in the morning, his eyes are caked shut, and his back is aching. He rolls off of the mound of blankets he’d made a bed out of a few weeks earlier, and stands up. Stretching long, Neil moves to get a granola bar out of his duffle. 

His eyes still barely open. After falling asleep late the previous night, his body had woken him up before dawn, and it showed in his movements. He had been tossing and turning, his mind unable to shut down. 

He knew objectively that it was an awful idea to go to the FBI with what he had remembered last night, but it was hard to ignore how Williams would most likely evade police for several more years if Neil just sat back and did nothing. 

He goes for a run to try and clear his head. It works somewhat. Neil’s able to think without attaching emotions to anything. Finally when he returns back to the abandoned warehouse, Neil’s concocted a half feasible plan. He can call in anonymously, and they’ll most likely connect the dots as to who is calling, but they can’t release the evidence with the name Neil Josten attached to it. 

It takes Neil a few minutes once he’s outside, but he finds an outdated payphone. Sticking a few quarters in, Neil dials the number he’d already memorized. It rings. Neil debates hanging up, even going as far as placing the phone half in the holder, but a woman’s voice picks up before he can. 

“Hello, this is Renee Walker of the BAU tip line. If you have a tip that you believe may be helpful in any current investigation, please state so now.”

Neil swallows hard. There’s no way to go back now without seeming suspicious. 

“Hi. I - I was involved in the investigation that’s going on now for Jerome Williams. I would like to remain anonymous though.” 

“Alright honey, we can do that for you. Would you be comfortable stating your name to only me?” 

“No.” Neil says abruptly. He can’t afford to say anything that may tell his father where he is, and his name, albeit a fake one, spread over a phone line anyone could tap was out of the question. 

“Okay, I understand.” Renee’s voice turns more serious now. The time for pleasantries are over, and Neil is fully entangled in this stupid idea for justice. 

“The suspect you have, Williams. He knows what he’s doing, and he knows how to hide it. He’s not like a sexual abuser, he’s more of a child rapist. When he runs, William’s is going to plan where he’s going, and he’s going to avoid the familiar places. He’s also most likely been picked up for something like a DUI, so he’ll choose a place unreachable by car.” 

There’s a few seconds of silence on the phone before Renee comes on the line again, her voice colored with surprise carefully hidden under cool professionalism. 

“Thank you for this information. The team and I will take it into consideration. And Neil,” Neil presses a finger to his temple. God. At least she hadn’t mentioned his last name. This whole team was going to make him die of stress if his father didn’t catch up to him first. 

“- if you ever have any problems related to the case, please don’t hesitate to call this line.”

Neil clicks the phone back into the holder without replying, and rubs a shaking hand over his face before mentally gathering himself, and running back to his warehouse, where he spent the next hour unpacking and repacking his duffel bag, and running his hands over the newspaper clippings hiding the flat stacks of hundreds. 

He was interrupted in his seventh inventory of all of his supplies by a knock on the side door of the warehouse. Neil dismissed it as local teens throwing rocks at it again, and continued repacking the bag when the knocks came again, this time with an older man’s gruff voice breaking the silence, muffled through the door. 

“Neil Josten, this is the FBI. Hernandez said this is where we might find you. You’re not in trouble, we just want to ask you a few more questions.” 

Immediately Neil rushes towards his bag, and shoves the last of the unpacked items back in it before racing up the stairs towards the fire exit he knows is located to the left of the landing. He’s out of the door, and halfway down the steps before he sees a familiar set of tattoos. Spinning quickly, Neile hops the railing, landing in a crouch and rolling to absorb the impact. 

He’s turned the corner before Wymack has time to yell for reinforcements, but it doesn’t matter anyway. Andrew has Neil against the wall in handcuffs when Wymack finally catches up. Huffing and glaring, he turns to Andrew.

“Hey midget, couldn’t have caught him a little closer to where I was.” 

Andrew apparently doesn’t deem him worthy of an answer, because he stays silent and smiling.

Neil is dragged all the way to the black Maserati parked a couple of feet away. Apparently they think he has a chance of out running the both of them in handcuffs. A useful thing to know. When he’s tossed in the back seat, Andrew makes him turn around again before looping a thin rope around his bound arms from forearm to wrist, before tying it into a knot that looks like it would’ve be learned in boy scouts. 

After he’s done, Neil tugs at the ropes experimentally. They’re loose enough to allow blood flow, but tight enough that he has no chance of getting out of them without some sort of knife like object. Neil’s grudgingly impressed. 

Wymack turns towards him from his spot in the passenger seat. 

“This isn’t official or anything, and you’re not under question again for the investigation. I just want to know a few things about you.”

Neil’s mouth sets into a thin line. He looks eerily similar to when Andrew was interrogating him. Before Wymack can ask anything else however, the car door swings open again, and Kevin Day slides into the back seat. 

“Are you serious! You were just going to leave me standing there in front of the main door until Abby did roll call and realized I was gone!” 

All three of the other passengers looked at him incredulously. It took Kevin a few more seconds to think to turn and look besides him. When he did he flinched backwards, before leaning closer again. 

“Are you the one that figured out the suspect’s natural flight path?” 

Neil could only nod, too scared of giving himself away. Kevin merely purses his lips and looks him up and down before turning to the front again. 

“I want him on the team.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will hopefully be up this weekend. Finally time to meet the rest of the foxes!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're meeting the foxes!! Sorry for the shortness, I think the next chapter'll be longer.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

From Neil’s vantage point, it’s easy to see the similarities between Kevin and Wymack. It’s hard to imagine how no one else had guessed Kevin’s paternity, especially with the friendship (and more) Wymack and Kayleigh had had. Then again. It was Kevin, and Kevin’s obliviousness had to come from someone, and that someone sure as hell wasn’t Kayleigh Day. At some point in Kevin and Wymack’s argument, Neil had gone from stressed to bored, and it wasn’t hard to see why. They had already been going at it for 10 minutes, and didn’t show signs of stopping. 

“He’s a goddamn victim and a suspect now too Kevin.” 

“I don’t care. Pull whatever strings you have to at the Bureau. I want him on my team.”

For a couple moments the two are locked in a silent staring contest before Wymack finally sighed and turned his head away. 

“Fine. I’m making him an intern though, and one step out of place and you’re out. Agreed?”

Both Kevin and Neil nod. Kevin eagerly, and Neil apprehensively. 

They sit in silence for the rest of the car ride until Andrew appears to see something and slows down. Neil tries to peer outside, but his view is blocked by the police barrier blocking the front section from the back seats. All of a sudden a loud banging begins on the hood of the SUV. 

“Andrew! I know you’re in there. We were supposed to leave an hour ago and Abby’s fucking pissed! Get your ass out here.” 

Instead of getting out, Andrew just double checks that the doors are still locked and starts banging a ragged beat on the ceiling, letting it build up and up until the Wymack finally reaches over Andrew, strangely slowly, to undo the child safety locks. As soon as he hears the click, Neil is out of the car with his back to the hood, facing what may be the strangest group of people he had seen in a while. 

 

There are nine of them standing shoulder to should in a ragged line in the middle of the SUV and a previously unseen small jet. All of them have various degrees of surprise on their faces except for the strange one with the dyed white blonde hair, though the blonde and the taller angry one try to play it off as anger and annoyance at Andrew. 

Behind him, he can hear the car doors open and shut three more times as Andrew, Kevin, and Wymack get out. Neil doesn’t dare turn to check and put his back to these strangers though. The one with the dyed hair looked dangerous, and he wasn’t sure if he was fast enough to evade the two tallest men. 

All of a sudden the smiling darker skinned man stopped studying Neil and turned to Andrew. 

“He’s kinda hot when you get past all of that.” He says the last part with disdain and a gesture to Neil’s clothes.  
“Where were you hiding him?”

Andrew cackles, high and cracked. “Oh Nicky, I wasn’t hiding him. The little rabbit was hiding himself.” 

 

Kevin steps forward, and Nicky instantly wilts. 

“It doesn’t matter where he was up to this point, he’s on the team now.”

The shortest woman steps forward, an indignant look on her face but before she can reach Kevin, Wymack stops her in her tracks, looking like he’s done this too many times to be anything but annoyed right now.

“What Kevin means Dan, is that Neil would be a good addition to the team and that the board is currently reviewing” Wymack sends Kevin a glare until Kevin looks properly cowed “my consultant application I sent in.” 

“What makes him so special anyways.” That’s the angry man now. Neil might’ve been scared at him if he didn’t look so blustery. The man seemed like the type of person that more bark than bite. 

“Well-” 

“Oh, the rabbit’s a special little friend Sam -”

“Seth.”

“-Steve. And he should treat as such. That means no meanie words that might potentially hurt his feewings.”  
Seth looks like he’s ready to jump Andrew, and Neil’s almost worried for his health with the way his veins are popping out, but the blonde woman just calmly pulls him backwards without so much as straining. She was someone to watch for. 

 

Before the rest of the people can make their introductions, or unleash their anger on Kevin or Andrew, a short matronly looking woman pops her head out of the door to the jet. 

“Good! Y’all are back now. We should’ve left an hour and a half ago at least! I don’t care about whatever pissing contest you’re having, or why there’s some random kid hanging around, just get in the jet.” 

Wymack cups his hands around his mouth to shout back. 

 

“We’re coming Abby!” 

Neil winces. He’d forgot how loud large men could be when they felt like it. The others are already half in the jet, when Kevin turns back to impatiently wave him towards the jet, like he couldn’t imagine why Neil wasn’t already there. He didn’t know why, but he started jogging towards the jet. Maybe it was some gut feeling. Like this was what he was meant to do.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh!! This is majorly unedited, so sorry for any mistakes! This is a bit of a filler chapter, and not much happens, but I'm going to try and get another chapter up super duper soon.

Smiley guy - Nicky - swings in last, breathless, and only a few seconds later Neil hears the rumbling of the jet engine below him. He was hoping that he could sit in silence for the duration of the plane ride, but from the looks on the faces turned towards him, Neil was guessing that was a no go. 

Wymack wasn’t there, so even if Neil still felt apprehensive around the older man, it would’ve been nice to have a buffer between himself and the god knows how many people waiting for him to finally talk. 

The blonde girl with the surprisingly good poker face from earlier reached down to pull off her unnecessarily high stilettos before leaning uncomfortably close to Neil and holding out a manicured hand for him to kiss or shake - Neil couldn’t tell which one, but he settled with shaking her hand. For some reason he was expecting her hand to be limp and lax like the rich people in books always seemed to have, but her grip was firm, and if he had to guess, Neil thought she might have gun callouses lining the ridges of her palm. 

“Allison Reynolds. Yes, of that Reynolds family. No I’m not here for acting training. Before we get any further, I want to settle something. Which way do you swing?”

“Uh..” This is almost the most out of his comfort zone Neil has been all day, which is saying something since three federal agents virtually kidnapped him only an hour or so ago. 

“Aly, Aly, Aly - Cat, the little rabbit’s got a little too many leaves on his plate. Maybe stick to torturing some other poor souls now.” 

Andrew’s leaning across Neil’s lap now, and is right in the face of Allison “yes from that family” Reynolds. She looks repulsed. Neil tenses up as Andrew moves further, and Andrew just stays in his position for a few more seconds before sitting back in his original position, creepy smile stil stretching his lips uncomfortably wide. 

The man with the tall hair is the next to try, and Neil warms up to him considerably more than to Reynolds. 

“I’m Matt Boyd. I think Seth and I -” a gesture at Tall Angry Man “are going to be sharing office space with you in DC.”

“Nice to - um - meet you.”

Matt just smiles even brighter.

“And I’m Dan Wilds and the current assistant director to Wymack. If you have any problems with any of the monsters, just come straight to me.”

“The monsters.”

“Yeah. The wackos.” The creepy one with the pastel hair speaks up at this, saying something about being misunderstood that Neil doesn’t bother listening particularly carefully to.

“Anyways, they consist of Andrew, and Kevin - who’ve you’ve already met, Nicky,” the smiling man waves “and Aaron”.

Neil turns to where Dan is pointing, and double takes. There’s a clone of Andrew sitting in a dark corner of the jet on his phone. Though Andrew and Aaron look almost exactly the same physically, Neil doesn’t get the same off vibe from Aaron as he does from Andrew. At least one of the twins was sane. 

The creepy quiet one finally speaks up. “I’m Renee Walker. I’m the one you spoke to over the phone.”

Neil takes her offered hand grudgingly.

“I remember.”

She may look like a perfect princess on the outside, but Neil knows that she’s hiding something. He had seen her change positions when he got out of the car, how she had gotten into an instinctual fighting position that was more suited to knives rather than fists, and how she would sometimes reach towards her boots when someone would walk too quietly behind her. It was how his mother used to act. 

“Hey hey hey Renee, the little rabbit sees you. He sees straight through you and your god. How do you feel about that?”

“Oh Andrew, he can ask me anything about myself if he wants.” 

Renee also seems to be the only person that can stand looking Andrew straight in the eyes. A feat Neil himself still hasn’t managed. 

It was better to know now then when he was in even tighter quarters with her anyway. 

“What gang were you a part of?”

Even Andrew looks surprised at this. Renee looks scared. 

“Your scars. It looks like you used to have a tattoo or brand on your wrist. And you keep reaching for the knife in your boot.”

Renee lets out a shaky laugh. “I guess my tells aren’t as well hidden as I would’ve liked to believe.”

Neil doesn’t react. Doesn’t feel bad that he potentially exposed her to the rest of the group. He only nods stonily to her. 

After that none of the other foxes ask him any more questions. Occasionally he’s look up from where he’s staring at his shoes and see on of them looking at him, with some unreadable emotion behind their eyes, but once he stares back they look away quickly enough. 

A half an hour later give or take, the jet starts shuddering into a landing. Neil takes one last opportunity to look around at the other foxes, and finally notices that, even for a manic one, Andrew’s smile looks strained. His eyes are crinkled shut, and he’s white knuckling the seat beneath him. 

Neil doesn’t let himself think further than his mother’s constant mantra of “the stronger the bond, the harder it is to sever”, and turns away.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooof... It's been a while. I feel like I've been using all of my writing energy to focus on my BB fic (not a good excuse, ik, but I really don't have anything else...) BUt here's the next chapter! Hopefully I'll get more time to work on this fic (most likely not, school is super busy and the only reason I'm even able to write now is because a hurricane is about to wreak my state and school let out early). 
> 
>  
> 
> Here's to hoping!
> 
> ps. check out my bb fic fluke! hard to miss as it's the only other fic i've ever posted

It’s a long and uncomfortable drive from the airstrip to the FBI academy where the foxes’ headquarters were located and altogether boring, other than Allison stretching a foot across the pleather seat to stroke up his leg until Andrew kicked her away. 

All of the members sit in silence, a scene absurdly reminiscent of the family road trips that Neil had seen in the motels he and his mother used to stay in. Abby turns and looks at them, amused and a little confused. 

“Not one ‘are we there yet?’ Nicky, I’m disappointed, I expected a lot more complaining from you at least.”

Nicky opens his mouth to reply, but rethinks it when Andrew points a knife threateningly towards him from the middle row. 

“Uh- uh- uh no talking from you. I’m not in the mood to deal with any inconveniences right now. Sorry boo.”

Andrew pouts cartoonishly and turns to Renee. 

“I think the best approach would be going over water, the zombies would dissolve because of the infection.”

Renee nods seriously. Neil wonders if he’s hallucinating. Surely two of the best minds on a team that catch serial killers (one of which used to be in a fucking gang and the other is apparently too dangerous to keep sober) aren’t discussing plans in case of a zombie apocalypse. Right? Apparently not, because Renee responds with some quip about disappointed sharks and the lack of blood in disintegrated flesh. It goes on for a bit until Aaron turns back from his book and interjects with, “Our modern WHO wouldn’t allow for a worldwide zombie outbreak. At worse, 10 people would be quarantined and either cured or killed”. 

The car rolls to a stop finally, and Neil peers out of the window, gasping when he sees the building. It was more than he could have dreamed of, bright orange and white, a little painful to look at, but holding all of his hopes and dreams inside it’s run down exterior. 

A heavy hand claps him on the shoulder, and Neil holds himself perfectly still until his brain registers Kevin as merely an annoyance instead of a threat. 

“Isn’t it beautiful.” Kevin whispers almost reverently, and Neil can only nod in agreement. 

A different set of hands grasps his other shoulder, but Neil merely sighs, Nicky talking too fast for his fight or flight response to even kick in.

“Wow! I see why Kevin wanted you on the foxes. Y’all both look at the building like you want to fuck it or something.”

“Gross.”

Nicky turns to face Kevin and pats him on the head a couple of times. 

“Not now Kevin, I’m having a talk with Neil.” 

Kevin just sighs and walks towards Wymack where he’s leaned against the driver side of the car.

“Now that he’s gone, I can talk to you without feeling the need to off myself every twenty seconds.”

Nicky grins wide and hugs a stiff Neil to his side. Neil escapes his surprisingly strong grip as fast as possible, and steps away, interested in what Nicky has to say, but not enough that he’s willing to bruise a rib or two if Nicky tries to grab him again. 

“So, we’re the foxes, which is somehow short for Forensic Operation and Investigation Service. I’m honestly not super why we’re called that, but the team’s kinda Coach’s brainchild, and he’s notoriously bad with names, hence, coach, and so yeah. We got stuck with a cute, but not super scary name. Watch out bad guys! The foxes are out hunting!”  
“Yeah,” Neil agrees, “Not exactly awe inspiring. Still better than the main branch. The ravens? What do they think they are, some bluegrass band from the 90s?”

Nicky lets out a giggle, and smiles down at Neil. 

“Y’know, I wasn’t quite sure when Andrew and Kevin brought you here, but I think you’ll be good for the team.”

For someone else, probably anyone else, those words would be welcomed. For Neil, they sounded like damnation. Already he was remembered, and it was only his first day on the job. 

Wymack finally clicks his phone off, done with whatever game or email he was looking at for the time being, and starts walking towards the building. He whistles what seems to be a round up call for dogs, but works just as well for the foxes. 

Once they’re inside the boardroom after narrowly surviving the hellish elevator trip somehow involving strangulation using a bungee cord and at least two cell phones being waved threatening towards various orifices, Wymack calls for attention. The nine of them straighten up from their various arguments, Kevin and Seth still glaring at each other from opposite sides of the board table. 

“As y’all may know, I’ve recruited someone new. Neil, please stand up for the class.”

Neil stands up halfway before Wymack waves for him to sit back down. 

“Now that that’s out of the way, I have some good news and bad news. Good news is that Jerome Williams was picked up in the woods just outside of town by the local authorities thanks to Neil’s tip. Bad news is that we’re going to Breckenridge, Colorado.” 

There’s mixture of groans and sighs, but overall the team seems surprisingly unhappy about going. Which shouldn’t be that surprising because they’re investigating a serial killer, but the foxes have seemed rather blasé about the whole murder aspect of their jobs. 

Nicky leans over to helpfully impart some most likely useless, but welcomed information. 

“Earnest “Gorilla” Hawking is their captain, and let’s just say he really lives up to his nickname.”

Allison leans in to the right, apparently listening in on their conversation while she had been adjusting her lipstick in the compact mirror she now held in her dangerous looking acrylics. 

“Gorilla? I heard he almost got fired after his wife came forward with domestic abuse allegations, but she refuted it before they actually got the paperwork filed.”

Neil and Nicky grimace. Neil might not be against going above the law if the circumstances demanded it, but abuse was never deserved. 

Allison turns back, a mascara wand procured miraculously from her Mary Poppins - esque bag, apparently having said all she wanted to say. 

Wymack comes back in the room holding ten files, passing one out to each fox, and then a last to Neil. Smiling grimly, he walks back to the head of the conference table. 

“Review the information, come prepared tomorrow. I don’t want another situation.”  
He glances meaningfully at Aaron and Andrew. Aaron looked a little embarrassed, but mostly bored. Andrew just looked wrong, like his features weren’t made for his face. Neil looked back to Wymack quickly. 

“Neil, I’ll let you have my office to sleep in since the sanctioned apartment isn’t set up yet.”

Neil nods, and then tacks on a “yes sir” when Wymack frowns at him. 

The foxes file out in a single file line, the conference room empty and dark. Wymack gruffly shoves a blanket and pillow into Neil’s arms, and points him wordlessly towards a large wood paneled office at the end of the hallway. Not the best situation, but better than the glass panes the rest of the offices feature. 

Neil enters the office, and falls asleep once his head hits the pillow, too tired to even stress about the upcoming case, and the disappointment his mother would surely be experiencing had she not been buried in a watery grave thirty miles off the coast of Southern California.

**Author's Note:**

> [ Tumblr ](https://exy-courts.tumblr.com/)


End file.
